Batz is an animated short (6 min) by Max Maleo & Aurélien Prédal.
The animation is done with a CGI process known generally as “cel shading” or “toon shading”, in which the normally 3-D appearance of CG animation is given a look more like 2-D hand drawing by the use of gradients and flat areas of color.
In the right hands, this can be quite effective and pleasing, and Batz, directed by Maleo with art direction by Prédal, is a case in point.
The production is nicely graphic and beautifully designed, particularly in respect to the use of lighting, and scenes that take place in near darkness punctuated with areas of light.
The story involves two bats with very different personalities: one an aggressive insectivore who loves mosquitoes, the other a timid fruit-eating bat who hates and fears them. Add a mosquito and the result is frantic, icky at times, and, well… batty.
There is a website devoted to the film, with images, background information and items for sale, including a “making of” animatic (animated storyboard).
[Via Mark a. Nelson]
